Obama Taps Bush Lawyer to Lead FBI

As the FBI grapples with scrutiny over government surveillance, President Barack Obama on Friday moved to turn the agency over to James Comey.

By NEDRA PICKLERTHE ASSOCIATED PRESS

WASHINGTON | As the FBI grapples with scrutiny over government surveillance, President Barack Obama on Friday moved to turn the agency over to James Comey, a top Bush administration lawyer best known for defiantly refusing to go along with White House demands on warrantless wiretapping nearly a decade ago. Obama cited Comey's "fierce independence and deep integrity" as he nominated him to replace outgoing FBI Director Robert Mueller. Mueller has led the agency for 12 years, longer than any previous director except J. Edgar Hoover, after Obama asked him to stay on beyond his initial 10-year term. Mueller moved into the director's office the week before the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, and Obama applauded him during a Rose Garden ceremony for leading "one of the biggest transformations of the FBI in history to make sure that nothing like that ever happens again."But Mueller is leaving as the agency faces new challenges surrounding its intelligence gathering and criminal investigations. The bureau has parried questions in recent weeks over media leak probes; the Boston Marathon bombings; the attack at Benghazi, Libya, that killed four Americans; vast government surveillance programs into phone records and online communications; and a criminal probe into the former National Security Agency contractor who revealed those programs to the media. And just this week, Mueller revealed the FBI uses drones for domestic surveillance and said its privacy implications are debate-worthy."This work of striking a balance between our security but also making sure we're maintaining fidelity to those values that we cherish is a constant mission," Obama said. It's a balance that Comey wrestled with during his time in Bush's Justice Department, dramatically illustrated by his testimony before the Senate Judiciary Committee in May 2007 as he recounted a hospital room standoff with senior White House aides. Comey told the committee that the showdown on March 10, 2004, was "probably the most difficult night of my professional life." But the face-off resulted in President George W. Bush authorizing changes to an anti-terror program to eavesdrop on domestic telephone calls and email messages without a court warrant.